The capital of the province was Danzig (Gdańsk) and its population without the city was 1,487,452 (in 1939). The area of the province was 26,056 km2, 21,237 km2 of which was annexed Danzig and Pomerelian territory.[1] During its short existence Poles and Jews living in this area were subjected by Nazi Germany to extermination as "subhumans".[citation needed]

After the Nazis came to power in Germany, they reformed the administrative system by transforming the former German provinces and states into their Gau system in 1935 as a part of their Gleichschaltung policy.

It was Nazi policy to exterminate the Polish and Jewish population of the region in several phases; the first phase of extermination was in September 1939 [5] The main Nazi responsible for genocide conducted in Pomerania was GauleiterAlbert Forster who was involved in mass murder and ethnic cleansing of ethnic Poles and Jews, while enlisting Polish citizens perceived by Nazis as descendants of Germanic settlers as Germans, often under the threat of violence.Forster personally declared that Polish people should be eradicated and stated "We have to exterminate this nation, starting from the cradle".[6][7][8]

The Gau was the site of the Stutthof concentration camp and its sub camps where over 85,000 people were executed or died of illness, starvation or mistreatment. Of the 52,000 Jews who were sent to the camp only around 3,000 would survive.[9]

During the Winter of 1939/40 between 12,000 and 16,000 people were murdered at Piaśnica by Einsatzkommando 16, units of the 36th Regiment of SS, and members of the Selbstschutz, a militia force made up of ethnic Germans. The local Selbstschutz, under the command of Ludolf von Alvensleben, numbered 17,667 and before their disbandment in October 1939 had killed 4,247 people.

Jews did not figure prominently among the victims in West Prussia, as the area's Jewish population was small and most had fled before the Germans arrived. However in places where they were present, they were expelled and murdered in what was classified as "other measures" which simply meant murder.[10] In areas where Jewish families or individuals remained, a "shameful situation" was proclaimed, and Nazi authorities expected the Selbstschutz to remedy it through "direct action".[11] In August 1943 around 500 Jews from a camp in Pomerania were sent to Auschwitz, out of which 434 were immediately killed upon arrival [12]

It is estimated, that by the end of the war, up to 60,000 people had been murdered in the region[13] and up to 170,000 expelled.[14] although other estimates place the expulsion figure at around 35,000 people,[15] and Forster himself reported that 87,000 people had been "evacuated" from the region by February 1940.[16]

In March 1945, the region was captured by the Red Army, and the Nazi governor, Albert Forster, was later sentenced to death and executed for crimes against humanity. The German population(which included war time settlers,Nazis and military officials) either fled or was expelled.

^The Origins of the Final Solution: The Evolution of Nazi Jewish Policy.. By Christopher R. Browning, page 35.

^Jewish Forced Labor Under the Nazis: Economic Needs and Racial Aims, 1938-1944. - Page 211. Wolf Gruner, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum - 2006 - "On August 21, 1943, a transport with 500 Jews from the Pomeranian Autobahn camp pulled into Auschwitz. Only sixty-six men were selected for the camp; the rest were immediately murdered."